


Know One

by imaginingstars



Series: Ghost Of Ohio verse [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidental Domesticity, Breaking and Entering, Frank is... not, Frank knows Matt is Daredevil, Getting Together, M/M, Matt is currently retired, POV Matt Murdock, Post-Season/Series 02, Pre-Defenders (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginingstars/pseuds/imaginingstars
Summary: Frank finds out that Matt isn't going out as Daredevil right now. He decides that the best way to deal with this is to break into Matt's home. Matt disagrees, but he can't say he dislikes the outcome in the long term.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Series: Ghost Of Ohio verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940530
Comments: 18
Kudos: 139





	Know One

**Author's Note:**

> Wherein Matt and Frank start dating prior to the events of The Defenders. It's the first in a series leading to a rewrite of that show where Frank is present. The timeline assumes that the events of the show happened around the dates they aired, with the only difference being that DD season 2 still occurred at Christmas – that is, 3 months before airing. That means Matt’s break takes place over a period of a year and a half.
> 
> Title from Know One by Andy Black, and the album title for that (The Ghost Of Ohio) is the name of the series

“Haven’t heard about you being out lately,” says the unexpected voice of Frank Castle. Matt tilts his head slightly, and adjusts his stance ever so slightly, as if the Punisher is about to leap across the table at him.  


“You broke into my apartment while I wasn’t here because you heard I hadn’t left recently?” He’s playing dumb and they both know it. He’s pretty sure it’s futile; he’d had his mask off when Elektra... _No_. That’s not the point here. The memory of that does reassure him somewhat, at least – they’d worked together then, and he thinks there’d been an understanding forged between them.  


“Don’t be stupid, it’s not cute,” Frank snaps out, “I’m just checking you ain’t dead.”  


“Still breathing,” Matt confirms, “But I’m pretty sure you could have found that out in a much less illegal way.”  


He senses the shrug of Frank’s shoulders as the other man leans back against his couch and puts his feet on the coffee table.  


“Gotta get my kicks somehow, Red.”  


“I suppose being a supposedly dead man isn’t exactly fun and games,” Matt says in a mostly humorous tone as he moves to the kitchen to grab a beer, before absently adding, “And get your feet off the table.”  


Frank does so, and Matt can feel the waves of amusement radiating off him like they’re tangible. He pulls out two bottles and, with a grunt to give his unexpected guest a heads up, tosses one over. He may as well at least try to be hospitable, since Frank clearly isn’t planning on leaving in the immediate future. The man catches it one-handed, because _of course he does_.  


“Why’d you stop going out?” Frank asks. It doesn’t sound pushy, just curious, and that more than anything is what convinces Matt to even consider giving some of the truth.  


“I... After Elektra...”  


“The lady on the roof?”  


“Yeah. It doesn’t feel... I can’t do that. I can’t risk anyone else. And anyway, the police seem to be on top of it at the moment.”  


“You know that’s bullshit, right?”  


Matt can’t tell which throws him more: the matter of fact tone, or the fact that Frank’s the one saying it. He freezes where he’s just dropped into a chair on the opposite side of the table to Frank.  


“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  


Frank scoffs. “I ain’t gonna pretend I’m emotionally healthy, or whatever the fuck they call it, but that’s avoidance if I’ve ever seen it.”  


“You really want to get into this? You broke into my home to– What, tell me off for not being a vigilante?”  


“Yeah, I did,” Frank replies promptly, “Because even if crime’s dropping, they’re gonna need you back on the streets sooner or later. The city needs you, Red, and it needs your special brand of crazy.”  


“As opposed to what, yours?” Matt’s aiming for confrontational. It just comes out exhausted. That, more than anything, makes Frank hesitate.  


“Take the break,” he says, surprisingly quietly, “It sounds like you need it. But you should come back.”  


“Yeah,” Matt says, and even he doesn’t know if he means it, “Sure.”

* * *

That seems like it’d be the end of it. It’s not. Sometimes Matt comes back from more _pro bono_ work and finds Frank on his couch. Other times, Frank convinces him to spar, to ‘stay on top of his game’. More than once, the Punisher slips in from the roof, covered in both his own blood and that of the people he’s been fighting, and Matt stitches him up with minimal complaints about being blind and shit at stitching before shoving him into the shower to get cleaned up before he leaves. On one memorable occasion, Frank cooks dinner as he grumbles about how Matt doesn’t take care of himself, doesn’t eat properly, doesn’t even stock his goddamn fridge.  


By the time Frank starts crashing on the couch rather than leaving, they’re in a weird sort of relationship purgatory. They’re more than friends, but they’re not anything official despite the domesticity of a lot of their interactions, and both of them would instantly deny that the other means anything to them. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t mutual attraction: the more time Matt spends in Frank’s company, the more he enjoys it, and the more he imagines Frank’s deep voice saying filthy things to him as they lie on his silk sheets. He can tell he’s not alone, too – one time, Frank had arrived just as Matt was changing for bed, and his heart rate had gone through the roof at the sight of Matt in nothing but boxers. That’s not even mentioning the obvious fact that Frank _keeps coming back_. He clearly at least likes Matt, whether or not he wants it to go further, or he’d have stayed away after that first conversation.  


All of that eventually changes on an evening where Frank decides to put his armour on at Matt’s place. He’s just putting on the armoured vest that Matt’s told has a white skull on it when the lawyer speaks. It’s something he’s been thinking about, and despite all of the problems it raises, despite his lingering guilt, the feeling of betraying Elektra, he can’t hold it back anymore. Frank is... Frank is present, and on some days he thinks Frank is more real than Elektra, the woman he’d never really known as much as he’d thought he had.  


“What if... What if you didn’t go out tonight?”  


“Scum ain’t gonna kill themselves, Red,” Frank says. He still uses that nickname even though Daredevil’s been off the streets for nearing eight months, and Frank’s been coming round for five. Matt hardly even flinches at Frank’s declarations of murder anymore; they’ve fought about it in multiple occasions, but they both know neither will ever change their minds, and Frank at least seems to be using slightly less lethal force now, instead using it as a little more of a last resort.  


“But they can wait a night,” he replies, “Just... Stay here tonight.”  


Frank stops moving. He goes so still he’s barely breathing, and Matt might even be a little worried if he couldn’t hear the comforting _thump thump thump_ of Frank’s heart. It’s a little faster than usual, and Matt’s fairly sure it skipped a beat.  


“And what would happen if I stayed?” It’s said quietly, Frank’s voice low and rough.  


Matt breathes for a moment, then steps closer. The papers had referred to him as ‘the man without fear’ at least once, but this is definitely terrifying. It’s the traits that led to that name, though, that push him to keep going.  


“If you wanted, I’d take you to bed. We’d sleep, and in the morning I’d make you breakfast, and if you wanted it to keep going, I’d hold your hand, and then we’d do it all again the next night.”  


“And if I went out tomorrow night, after all that?” Frank still hasn’t said no, and there’s a note of longing that pushes Matt to speak again.  


“I’d wait for you to come home.”  


“Home, is it?” Frank asks, but it’s not really a question. He hasn’t slept anywhere but Matt’s in over a month.  


“Yeah. Home.”  


“If all that’s on offer,” Frank says, “Then I suppose I’d better stay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking this moment to shamelessly self-promo my comics blog over on tumblr at [click-grayson](https://click-grayson.tumblr.com/)


End file.
